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News Archive

The Chemistry Department recently completed construction of its new multi-user Raman spectroscopy facility, funded by a grant to Profs. Neidig and McCamant from the National Science Foundation's Major Research Instrumentation (MRI) program. The facility has 11 different CW diode lasers from the ultraviolet to the near infrared, combined with a triple spectrograph and CCD detection system and cryogenic sample handling. Raman spectroscopy can give detailed molecular information about materials by probing their molecular vibrational frequencies.

University researchers hope to improve the odds of surviving acute myeloid leukemia (AML) with a promising drug that traces its lineage to a chemical found in magnolias. They will load the drug into nanoparticles that will target the inner recesses of bone marrow where leukemia stem cells lurk.

"The Sceptical Chymist", a Nature Chemistry blog, recently featured Ellen Matson, Assistant Professor of Chemistry, in the blog's "Reactions" feature. Marshall Brennan, blog author, interviewed Prof. Matson asking things like, "What made you want to be a chemist?", and "When was the last time you did an experiment in the lab – and what was it?", as well as a few fun and personal questions such as, "Which historical figure would you most like to have dinner with – and why?".

Michael Neidig, an assistant professor of chemistry, is one of 49 scientists to be recognized this year by the Department of Energy as one of the nation’s “exceptional researchers” in his or her “crucial early career years.”

The 2016 Janet Howell Clark Prize is being awarded to Rachel Kasimer (CHM BS ’16). The Janet Howell Clark Prize is awarded annually to a senior woman who has shown the greatest promise in creative work in astronomy, biology, chemistry, or physics, and who has shown outstanding versatility in the mastery of allied fields. Selection is based on recommendations by the respective departments, which are evaluated by a committee appointed by the Dean of the College. The award consists of a cash prize and recognition at a special senior ceremony the Saturday of commencement. Rachel will also be recognized at the Chemistry Diploma Ceremony.

As of July 1, 2016, Professor Michael Neidig will serve for two years as Wilmot Assistant Professor in the School of Arts, Sciences, and Engineering. The announcement was made by Dean Peter Lennie, who explained that this appointment carries with it an annual research fund of $5,000.

Professor Daniel J. Weix and his group have been awarded renewed funding of $1.3 million over 4 years by the National Institutes of Health (NIGMS) to develop new reductive cross-electrophile coupling reactions and study their mechanisms. Cross-electrophile coupling reactions were pioneered in the Weix group and are now frequently used at pharmaceutical companies in drug discovery and development.

Astrid Olivares, a second-year graduate student working in Prof. Dan Weix’s lab, has been selected as a 2016-2019 NSF Graduate Research Fellow. Two of our Alumni, Louis Papa (now at MIT), andKevin McClelland (now at Northwestern), also were selected to receive this prestigious award.

Congratulations to UR Chemistry Assistant Professor Ignacio Franco who is the recipient of a 2016 CAREER Award from the National Science Foundation for his proposal entitled “Decoherence, Non-Equilibrium Properties and Stark Control of Electrons at the Nanoscale.” The Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) Program is a Foundation-wide program that offers the NSF's most prestigious awards in support of junior faculty who exemplify the role of teacher-scholars through outstanding research, excellent education and the integration of education and research within the context of the mission of their organizations. Such support is expected to help build a firm foundation for a lifetime of faculty leadership in integrating education and research.

UR Ventures Technology Review reports that after presenting their projects to the Technology Development Fund Executive Committee, Chemistry faculty members are co-investigators on two of the four teams that have received the latest round of awards from the University's Technology Development Fund. TDF funding allows for proof-of-concept experimentation and pre-clinical studies.

Connections, a radio show with WXXI News, featured Professor Jones, when their Monthly Science Roundtable asked the question: "What if science could fix one of our country's big energy mistakes?" Evan Dawson, host of Connections with WXXI News, states that: "A decade ago, government was all-in on corn-based ethanol. This produced bad results on a number of levels: environmental, energy efficiency, the impact on food and crop rotation, etc. But now a team led by a researcher at the University of Rochester is zeroing in on a method to make ethanol much more efficient, and much less corrosive. Will it work?"

The Weix Group recently discovered a new solution to the long-standing challenge of cross-coupling two different aryl electrophiles - a multimetallic cross-Ullman reaction. Graduate student Laura Ackerman, assisted by undergraduate Matt Lovell, developed a method to couple an aryl bromide with an aryl sulfonate ester selectively. The secret is to use a combination of two different metal catalysts, palladium and nickel, along with a simple fluoride salt. Given the abundance of the aryl starting materials and the importance of biaryls in pharmaceuticals and materials, this new reaction could find wide application.

Terrell Samoriski, Journal of Organic Chemistry Editorial Assistant to Professor Bob Boeckman, is this year's recipient of the Sandra M. Beach Memorial Award for outstanding service to the Chemistry Department.

PENGFEI (FRANK) HUO will officially join our Chemistry faculty in July 2015. Frank received his B.S. in chemistry from Lanzhou University of China in 2007. He then moved to Boston University to pursue his Ph.D. in theoretical chemistry with David Coker. Frank's Ph.D. work focused on developing efficient and accurate nonadiabatic dynamic methods to understand the excitation energy transfer process and the electronic coherence in natural light harvesting systems. In 2012 he joined CalTech as a postdoctoral researcher in the group of Tom Miller where he worked on extending the linearized path-integral method to simulate the electron and excitation transfer dynamics, as well as applying a variety of novel computational methods such as ab-initio molecular dynamics tools and wavefunction-in-DFT embedding approach to explore the fundamental aspects of electron and proton transfer mechanisms in cobaltbased hydrogen evolution catalysts. He was recognized as one of the "top reviewers for The Journal of Chemical Physics" (2012) and received an "ACS PHYS Division Postdoctoral Research Award" (2014). The Huo research group develops and applies multiscale theoretical approaches that combine novel dynamics and methods and scalable electronic structure methods to investigate the complex reaction dynamics associated with solar energy harvesting and storage processes.

The 2015 Janet Howell Clark Prize is being awarded to Chitavi Devi Maulloo(CHM BS, BMG BS ’15). The Janet Howell Clark Prize is awarded annually to a senior woman who has shown the greatest promise in creative work in astronomy, biology, chemistry, or physics, and who has shown outstanding versatility in the mastery of allied fields. Selection is based on recommendations by the respective departments, which are evaluated by a committee appointed by the Dean of the College. The award consists of a cash prize and recognition at a special senior ceremony the Saturday of commencement. Chitavi will also be recognized at the Chemistry Diploma Ceremony.

Michael L. Neidig, Assistant Professor of Chemistry, has been named a 2015 Alfred P. Sloan Research Fellow in Chemistry. Professor Neidig’s research focuses on non-precious metal catalysis in organic chemistry, including iron-catalyzed cross-coupling and iron- and cobalt-catalyzed direct C-H functionalization.

Lukiana Anka-Lufford, a graduate student in Dan Weix’s group, was recently awarded the American Chemical Society (ACS) Division of Organic Chemistry Travel award in the amount of $600. With this award, Lukiana plans on attending the Spring ACS meeting in Denver, CO ( March 22-26, 2015) where she will present a talk on her research entitled: “A new co-catalyst strategy: Cobalt and nickel-catalyzed cross-electrophile coupling of benzyl mesylates and aryl halides.“ Congratulations Lukiana!

Assistant Professor Dr. Ellen Matson will officially join the Department of Chemistry faculty as of July 1, 2015. Dr. Matson comes to Rochester after completing her Ph.D. at Purdue University with advisor Professor Suzanne C. Bart on her thesis entitled: “Synthesis of Low-Valent Uranium Alkyl Complexes: Exploring the Reactivity of the Uranium Carbon Bond for the Activation of Small Molecules.” Dr. Matson then went to the University of Illinois at Urban-Champaign for postdoctoral research in the area of first-row transition metal complexes with Professor Alison R. Fout.

Congratulations to Assistant Professor Michael L. Neidig who is the recipient of a 2015 CAREER Award from the National Science Foundation. The Chemical Catalysis Division will support Professor Neidig’s research by providing $675K over the next five years.

Assistant Professor of Chemistry Michael L. Neidig and his group have been awarded a 5-year, $1.4 million grant by the National Institutes of Health (NIGMS) to study new iron-catalyzed coupling reactions. Their long-term goal is to develop iron-catalyzed C-C cross-coupling to the level of understanding currently present for palladium, thus permitting the rational development of iron chemistry across the spectrum of desired C-C bond forming reactions. The objective of the proposed project is to utilize a novel experimental approach combining inorganic spectroscopies, density functional theory and synthesis to develop molecular-level insight into active catalyst structure and the mechanisms involved in current leading edge iron-catalyzed C-C cross-coupling reactions, and to utilize this insight to develop new catalysts and reaction methodologies with improved catalytic performance. The iron-based cross-coupling reaction studies in this grant utilize low-cost, non-toxic metals that offer the potential for the development of sustainable catalytic systems for use in the health sciences. The proposed research is relevant to public health and the mission of the NIH because it is from these low-cost, sustainable methods that affordable routes to the next generation of pharmaceuticals and molecular probes will be discovered.

Daniel J. Weix, an associate professor of chemistry at the University of Rochester, has been named a recipient of the Novartis Early Career Award in Organic Chemistry. Novartis, a multi-national pharmaceutical company based in Switzerland, honors two scientists each year who are “within 10 years of having established an independent academic research career in the areas of organic or bioorganic chemistry in the broadest sense.” The Novartis Early Career Award comes with a $150,000 grant over three years to continue the recipient’s research. Weix, who specializes in organic (carbon-based) synthesis, is working on developing better ways of creating molecules in order to accelerate the discovery of new, useful compounds, including pharmaceuticals.

Daniel J. Weix, an associate professor of chemistry at the University of Rochester, was selected to receive a Pharmaceutical Roundtable grant by the American Chemical Society Green Chemistry Institute and was also a recipient of the 2014 Pfizer Green Chemistry Award for his research of non-precious metal catalysis.

Professor Todd Krauss has been selected to join the 2015 class of Fellows of the Optical Society(OSA). Todd is being recognized for major contributions to the measurement and understanding of spectroscopy and excited state relaxation dynamics in II-VI semiconductor nanocrystals and carbon nanotubes at both the ensemble and single particle levels. One of his enthusiastic letter writers made the comment, “Todd has clearly distinguished himself as one of the leaders worldwide in the photophysics of nanomaterials. He communicates his ideas very well; he is motivating, enthusiastic and connects with the audience. He has an excellent sense of humor and understands how to capture the attention of the audience. To summarize, Todd’s scientific contributions and service to the Optics community need to be recognized. I strongly support his nomination and hope he’ll soon be a fellow Fellow.” Todd will be inducted as an OSA Fellow during one of the OSA conferences to be held in 2015. Founded in 1916, The Optical Society (OSA) is the leading professional association in optics and photonics, home to accomplished science, engineering, and business leaders from all over the world.

Associate Professor of Chemistry Daniel J. Weix is a scientist, but he nonetheless talks about the creative aspects of chemistry and the art of organic synthesis. Weix specializes in organic (carbon-based) synthesis and is working to develop better ways of creating molecules in order to accelerate the discovery of new, useful compounds, including pharmaceuticals.

Dan earned his B.S. in Chemistry at Columbia University in 2000, and his Ph.D. degree under the direction of Professor Jonathan Ellman at the University of California, Berkeley in 2005. He spent three years as a postdoctoral fellow with Professor John Hartwig at Yale University and the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign prior to joining our department. On July 1, 2008. Dan came to Rochester with an extremely strong background in synthetic and organometallic chemistry, focusing on the development of new methods for C-C bond formation used in organic synthesis. In recognition of the novelty and importance of his published and ongoing work, Dan has also recently been awarded major NIH research support, a Fellowship from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation (2013), a Thieme Chemistry Journal Award (2013), and a Green Chemistry Award from the Pfizer-Groton Green Chemistry Team (2012). Dan is also an extraordinarily effective teacher at both the undergraduate and graduate levels, and he has developed new curricula for several courses including CHM 435, a graduate level course on synthetic methods, and CHM 210, an honors level organic chemistry laboratory course.

Sandra Beach served as the Department Secretary from 1991 until her tragic death in an automobile accident in 1993. She was an extremely important and well-liked staff member whose cheerful and helpful attitude made her an invaluable asset.

Congratulations to Daniel Everson, who received his Ph.D. in 2013 under the guidance of research advisor Dan Weix. The title of this thesis was “Nickel-Catalyzed Electrophile Cross-Coupling of Aryl Halides”. Dan received his B.S. in Chemistry in 2007 from the University of St. Thomas in St. Paul, Minnesota, and is currently working as a postdoctoral associate in the laboratory of Christopher J. Douglas at the University of Minnesota in the Chemistry department. As Wendi Heinzelman, Dean of Graduate Studies for Arts, Sciences and Engineering wrote in her notification letter: This award is testament to your exceptional work as a graduate student at the University of Rochester. We are proud of all your accomplishments. Dan will receive a certificate and a monetary award in recognition of his achievement.

Chemistry professor Douglas H.Turner has been recognized by the University for his contributions to graduate education over his 39 year career at Rochester with the 2014 UR Lifetime Achievement Award in Graduate Education. For Doug, this award is the capstone of an outstanding career as a scholar, researcher, teacher and graduate mentor.

Ignacio Franco joined the Chemistry faculty at the University of Rochester in July 2013. Ignacio received his B.Sc. in chemistry from the National University of Colombia in 2001. After completing the diploma program in condensed matter physics at The Abdus Salam International Centre for Theoretical Physics in Trieste in 2002, he moved to the University of Toronto to pursue a Ph.D. in theoretical chemical physics under the guidance of Paul Brumer. Ignacio’s Ph.D. work was in the field of Quantum Control and focused on investigating the use of lasers to induce ultrafast controllable currents along nanoscale junctions. In 2008 he joined Northwestern as a postdoctoral fellow in the groups of Mark A. Ratner and George C. Schatz where he worked on the theory and simulation of single-molecule pulling experiments. He then moved to Berlin to take a position as group leader and Humboldt research fellow in the Theory Department of the Fritz Haber Institute in 2011, where he investigated electronic decoherence processes in molecules.

The National Conference on Undergraduate Research is an organization that seeks to promote undergraduate research, scholarship, and creative activity using partnerships with faculty and other mentors as a way to achieve a higher education. Chosen from over 4,000 submissions, Ian will have the opportunity to present his work and interact with other student researchers and faculty from across the country throughout the four day event. The conference also includes graduate school fairs, oral and poster presentations, performing arts presentations, and speeches by renowned innovators such as Kris Kimel, the founder of IdeaFestival, and the president and co-founder of Kentucky Science and Technology Corp.

Professor Daniel J. Weix was invited to attend the 25th annual Kavli Frontiers of Science Symposium held November 7-9, 2013 in Irvine, California. The 80-100 attendees were selected from among recipients of prestigious fellowships, awards, and other honors, as well as from nominations by NAS members and other participants. They are a group of distinguished scientists under 45 who have already made significant contributions in their fields. Since the symposium's inception in 1989, more than one hundred fifty of its "alumni" have been elected to the National Academy of Sciences, and ten have been awarded Nobel prizes.

The Cincinnati Section of the American Chemical Society and Chemistry Department at the University of Cincinnati recently announced Rich Eisenberg as the 2013 Oesper Award Winner. The Oesper Award is given annually to recognize an outstanding chemist of our time for a lifetime of significant accomplishments in the field of chemistry with long lasting impact on the chemical sciences. Rich just recently received the Award when he spoke at the Symposium held in Cincinnati last week. Congratulations Rich!

Rudi Fasan and Dan Weix were chosen to speak at the 8th Organic Young Academic Investigators Award Symposium held recently at the ACS National Meeting in Indianapolis, Indiana. The intent of the Symposium is to have the program composed of Assistant Professor speakers who are entering their fifth or sixth years and are not yet tenured. Sixteen speakers were invited to give 30-minute presentations on their work.

The Rochester Area Community Foundation recently presented Dr. Walter Cooper, an alumnus of the University of Rochester, with its highest honor in recognition of his many charitable contributions. Cooper received the Joe U. Posner Founders Award at the foundation's annual luncheon at the Rochester Riverside Convention Center on September 18.

The Journal of Physical Chemistry and the ACS Physical Chemistry Division created a new Lectureship Award which began in 2013. These awards, which will be held annually, honor the contributions of THREE investigators who have made major impacts on the field of physical chemistry in the research areas associated with each journal section. Dave McCamant was chosen as the winner of the Journal of Physical Chemistry B Lectureship: Biophysical Chemistry, Biomaterials, Liquids, and Soft Matter. The inaugural award Lectureships were held in September at the Fall 2013 ACS National Meeting in Indianapolis, Indiana.

Answering the question "Where does the energy go in a chemical reaction?" has been an abiding interest of Jim Farrar and his research group. Recognizing that ion-molecule reactions are among the fastest known gas phase processes has motivated the group to develop crossed molecular beam methods to study energy and angular momentum disposal in these chemical reactions. The experimental observations provide important correlations between reaction motifs and topological features of the underlying potential surfaces that describe the forces experienced by approaching reactants and separating products. The study of gas phase ion chemistry is based on mass spectrometry, with the result that molecular beam methods measure velocity vector distributions of reaction products. Measuring these distributions, generally with an energy analyzer that rotates around the collision center, produces an image of the products in velocity space that provides direct information on the velocities and scattering angles of newly formed reaction products.

The ability to construct and manipulate biologically active molecules is central to the discovery of compounds with novel or improved pharmacological properties. Methods for the selective functionalization of aliphatic carbon-hydrogen (C—H) bonds are of particularly high synthetic value, as these chemical bonds are ubiquitous in natural and synthetic bioactive molecules. Performing this transformation with high efficiency and selectivity constitutes however a formidable challenge due to the strength of C−H bonds and the presence of several C−H bonds of similar energy in organic compounds, especially in complex molecules. A research team led by Prof. Rudi Fasan has reported a novel strategy to obtain cytochrome P450-based catalysts useful for the late-stage functionalization of unactivated C—H bonds in artemisinin, a complex natural product of prominent value in the fight against malaria (J. Am. Chem. Soc.2012; 134(45): 18695–704). This impressive work was highlighted in the Chemical & Engineering News and selected for the JACS Spotlight "Enzyme Targets Hard-To-Oxidize Chemical Bonds".

Congratulations to Rudi Fasan for winning the 2014 Tetrahedron Young Investigator Award in the Bioorganic and Medicinal Chemistry field (a second award is given for the field of Organic Synthesis). These two awards were created in 2005 by the Executive Board of Editors and the Publisher of Tetrahedron Publications and are presented to two individuals who have exhibited "exceptional creativity and dedication" in the fields Bioorganic/ Medicinal Chemistry and Organic Synthesis respectively.

The Blavatnik Awards for Young Scientists competition has announced the results of their 2013 regional competition, naming Professor Pat Holland, Synthetic Bioinorganic and Organometallic Chemistry, one of five faculty winners. These exceptional scientists, along with two postdoctoral fellows and five finalists, were selected from a pool of more than 160 nominations across 35 scientific disciplines, submitted by 43 research institutions in New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut.

Chemistry alumna Katherine Garner, '11/T5, (BS, Chemistry; minor, ASL) has won a 2013-14 Carnegie Junior Fellowship. She is the first-ever UR student or alumna to receive this prestigious and extremely competitive fellowship. Only 8-10 Carnegie Junior Fellows are chosen each year. Kate will serve as a research assistant to a senior fellow in the Energy & Climate Program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace in Washington, DC, where she will help produce policy papers, op ed pieces, briefs for Congressional committees, and interact with government and international officials. More about Kate can be found on the University website using the link to the right.

Congratulations to Ben Hafensteiner on being named this year’s Professor of the Year in the Natural Sciences. This award is bestowed on behalf of the University of Rochester Students’ Association who determined, after a careful screening of the pool of nominations, that Ben best fulfilled the criteria for this high honor.

Kim Manbeck has been chosen as one of the recipients of the 2013 Edward Peck Curtis Award for Excellence in Teaching by a Graduate Student. Awardees are selected by the Dean of Graduate Studies and a University faculty committee, based on evidence of outstanding teaching, such as TA student and faculty evaluations, faculty letters of support and student recommendations. With this award, Kim is recognized for her outstanding performance as a teaching assistant in a wide variety of chemistry courses, her dedication and commitment to students, and her exceptional service to the Department of Chemistry. We will be having a get together (day/time to be announced) during which a member of the Dean's staff will present her award. Great job Kim! Our sincerest congratulations on this well-deserved honor!

Dan Weix, Assistant Professor of Chemistry, has been named a 2013 Sloan Research Fellow. According to Chemistry Chair Robert Boeckman, Jr., "There is no question the breadth and depth of Dan's research program, developed in a mere four years, ranks him at the very top of his cohort of young faculty working in the area of organometallic synthesis methodology."

Dan Weix is the recipient of a 2013 Thieme Chemistry Journal Award! This award, established in 1999 with the aim to encourage young scientists, is granted to prospective chemists who have been recognized as high-potential researchers in the field of synthetic organic chemistry by the editorial board members of SYNTHESIS, SYNLETT and SYNFACTS. Congrats!

Pfizer Worldwide Research & Development in Groton, Connecticut, actively promotes the twelve principles of green chemistry amongst their staff. One of the key components of the program facilitated by their Green Chemistry Team is internal recognition through the “Groton Labs Green Chemistry Award.” Annual awards are presented to Pfizer scientists who demonstrate outstanding performance by incorporating green chemistry into pharmaceutical research and development activities.